Tony HoffmanWorldWide Telescope (Spring Beta)Even in its first public beta, WorldWide Telescope is an awesome resource for astronomy appreciation and education. Just like the universe, it has the potential to expand at an increasing pace.

Even in its first public beta, WorldWide Telescope is an awesome resource for astronomy appreciation and education. Just like the universe, it has the potential to expand at an increasing pace.

Think of it as a virtual starship. A classroom without walls, whose limits are the edges of the universe. A bit hyperbolic, maybe, but for amateur astronomers Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope (WWT) lives up to the hype. This free virtual telescope from Microsoft's Next Media Research gives anyone the ability to view compelling images from any section of the heavens. When using WWT, you're not remotely controlling a real telescope, however. Instead, the tool shows you full-sky imagery (captured at a variety of wavelengths, from radio to gamma ray) from a number of observatories, both earthbound and space-based. It has a few shortcomings, but for a free service that's only in its first public beta, WorldWide Telescope is a phenomenal resource for enthusiasts, students, and teachers.

After you install the 20.9MB client, you can launch WorldWide Telescope from Windows' program list. Much like Google Earth, the client displays content streamed in response to your actions in its viewing interface. In fact, Google Earth's Sky function and the similar Google Sky Web site (www.google.com/sky) are WWT's closest competitors. Google's offerings have some good features, including overlays of antique star maps with fanciful depictions of the constellations, links to podcasts such as Hubblecast, and videos of the object in your sights. But Microsoft has taken the multimedia angle light-years further with its Communities and Guided Tours, which turn WWT into a platform for astronomy education and outreach.

Interfacing with the Universe

WorldWide Telescope's main interface is the Viewer, which displays the service's imagery. The Viewer extends the full width of the screen and most of its height. Using your mouse, you can pan WWT to any point in its representation of the night sky, then zoom in for a close-up. Seven tabs line the top of the screen: Explore, Guided Tours, Search, Community, Telescope, View, and Settings. Below them is a bar that, depending on which tab you've selected, will display either a row of thumbnails, a list of Communities, a search bar, or a settings menu.

At the bottom of the interface, a bar of thumbnails links to interesting objects currently visible in the Viewer. Clicking on one zooms in on the object. At the far right of the bar is a representation of the celestial sphere and a tiny diagram showing what constellation you're looking at. There are two pull-down menus, labeled Imagery and Sky, near the bar's left edge. The first lets you access all-sky images from multiple sources. You use the second to select one of four modes: Earth, Planet, Sky, and Panorama.

Earth mode brings you a 3D globe with high-res imagery that seems to be the same as that in Microsoft's Virtual Earth, but devoid of labeling. Panorama gives you 360-degree views of Martian craters taken by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers. Planet takes you to images of the Moon, several planets, and some of Jupiter's moons. The images display as rotatable globes that show surface detail.

The choices for displaying planets aren't optimal, though. One shows planets at actual size, but that makes them invisible in the wide-field view: You have to click on thumbnails and zoom in to see them. Even the full Moon is inconspicuous in this view. The other choice displays the planets, Sun, and Moon at the same size, but reveals Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, which are normally invisible to the naked eye. Speed up the elapsed time 100,000-fold or so, and you can watch the dance of the Sun, Moon, and planets along the ecliptic. That's neat, but all the planets display at the same brightness, and none brighter than a moderately bright star. Comets and asteroids don't show up at all. Most home astronomy software lets you download files with these celestial wanderers' orbital data so that those currently visible show at their correct positions.Next: Look to the Sky

WorldWide Telescope (Spring Beta)

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Bottom Line: Even in its first public beta, WorldWide Telescope is an awesome resource for astronomy appreciation and education. Just like the universe, it has the potential to expand at an increasing pace.

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About the Author

As Analyst for printers, scanners, and projectors, Tony Hoffman tests and reviews these products and provides news coverage for these categories. Tony has worked at PC Magazine since 2004, first as a Staff Editor, then as Reviews Editor, and more recently as Managing Editor for the printers, scanners, and projectors team.
In addition to editing, T... See Full Bio

WorldWide Telescope (Spring Bet...

WorldWide Telescope (Spring Beta)

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